Internet providers call FCC's Net rules unlawful in court filing

The Federal Communications Commission's network neutrality rules amount to a "power grab," Internet service providers charge in a court filing.

USTelecom, AT&T, CenturyLink, the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, CTIA and others filed the brief in the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. They are challenging the legality of the FCCs Open Internet order. They argue that the FCC acted illegally and without proper authority in creating a unwieldy new law that could negatively affect the economy. "It is the output of an agency determined (or pressured) to reach a particular result and visibly struggling to devise a post hoc justification for contradicting Congress’s pronouncements, the agency’s own longstanding policy, and real-world facts," according to the brief. "It is, in short, a sweeping bureaucratic power grab by a self-appointed 'Department of the Internet.'" The rules subject broadband service "to too heavy-handed, public-utility-style regulation designed for 19th-century railroads and 1930s telephone monopolies," the brief says.

Free Press Policy Director Matt Wood called the arguments "overheated rhetoric ... that ignores both the law and the way that Internet access actually operates." The ISPs legal filing, he said, exposes "the weakness of their case against enforceable net neutrality protections. Communications law is rooted in principles of protecting users of any communications network against unreasonable discrimination, blocking and interference. The FCC’s net neutrality ruling is legally sound and puts Internet users first.”

John Bergmayer, Senior Staff Attorney at Public Knowledge, said, “We are confident that our upcoming brief will thoroughly rebut the carriers' inadequate and off-base arguments, demonstrating why the Open Internet rules are important to protect consumers, free speech and competition. We are confident that our upcoming brief will thoroughly rebut the carriers' inadequate and off-base arguments, demonstrating why the Open Internet rules are important to protect consumers, free speech, and competition, and explaining how the authority the FCC used and the procedures it followed were all lawful.”